I Remember

Title: I Remember

Author: Haripriya

Authors Note: Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a happy Saturday! I do realize that this story is a little story, and that is because I felt that this prompt was best written a little short. There was a lot I wanted to include in this story, but I was really not in the mood of making a part two, so I just completed the story to kind of fit the prompt and be a little shorter. 

Hello, my name is Cassie. I come from a family of bakers. Starting from my grandmother, everyone has a recipe they make for our famous cookies. Honestly, no one in this world can ever beat my grandma's cookie recipe. It's that good. I love it so much, well not just me, everyone in my family loves it. It's finger-licking delicious. 

But there's something special about that recipe, and it's that she hasn't told it to anyone but me. You see, a year ago, my grandmother decided to teach only me. It was just like any ordinary day. Nothing special about it, just a regular day of going to school. That day started like this:

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"Cassie! Wake up! Come on! You have to drop your sisters at school!" I heard my parents yell, even louder than the noisy alarm.

I remember sighing, thinking that I should have never been an older sister to three younger sisters. Honestly, it's a pain in the neck. First, I have to drop the little one to preschool. Then I have to make sure the middle ones go to the school building. But in the middle of all these hectic things, I have to remember to make breakfast for them since my parents would go to work as soon as I woke up, which was 6:00 am. 

My parents eat while they are going to work, so they have no time making breakfast or anything. It's not even like I'm much older than them. I also need to go to school too! But obviously, the house is so chaotic in the morning. Does it change at night? Absolutely not.

Though sometimes I hate being the eldest sibling, it kind of feels good to take care of my three younger siblings. I feel really responsible, really mature taking care of them. It just feels satisfying to see them happy and laughing all the time. 

Anyway, after school, when I came home, it was just me and grandma. The little one had some finger-painting activity and had to stay a little later, and the other two had to go to a birthday party. You can imagine the peace and quiet in the house.

At first, I was bored. I mean, after I finished all my work, I didn't know what to do. Usually, I would play with my sisters or help mom and dad with extra chores, or I would be stuck in my room doing homework. But today, none of those things happened. 

"Dearie! Why are you so glum?" asked my grandmother, slowly walking towards me.

"Oh, grandma! I..I'm fine! Please don't walk all the way from the kitchen to here! Your knee isn't properly healed. You know what, I'll come there. Please grandma, you just wait." I replied.

"Oh, Cassie! All doctors say to just sit around, be lazy! Nothing will happen to me if I walk for five seconds, dearie!" grandma replied back.

I just looked down at her feet and sympathized. I remember being worried about grandma's health condition.

"Grandma, if I may, what are you making? It smells really good." I ask, trying to break the deep silence.

"This? Well, it's my signature cookies!" grandma replied excitedly.

"You're baking them? I've always wanted to know how you bake them so deliciously!" I said, now walking towards the kitchen.

"You know what dearie? I'll teach you how to bake them. It isn't really that hard. But promise me you keep this to yourself. Don't tell my daughter, I mean your mom or your siblings." she reminded me, now looking a bit more stern.

"I won't, I promise. I cross my heart and hope to die." I reassured her.

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Since then, I have always baked my grandmother's signature cookies, yet no one knows how I do it. It always comes out as if grandma had just baked them. These cookies meant more to me than just being tasty. These cookies are a resemblance to my grandmother. 

If she was here right now, I could imagine her saying, Good job dearie! I'm so proud of you. Every time I bake these cookies, I recollect every moment I have ever spent with her. 

After the day she closed her eyes forever, I still remember how terrible I felt. That day, she was baking her signature cookies, and I was helping her. 

I remember, her feeling dizzy and soon she became unconscious. I called the ambulance. When they came, they took grandma and me in their car. Sobbing, I called my mom and dad. I tried to make out words as I continued to cry. 

I hoped that she would be fine. That she would still open her eyes, and that everything would go back to being normal. Alas, this world isn't a fairy tale land all the time. It's not like any potions were going to fix her. It was just the circle of life.

But after that treacherous day, whenever any one of my family members was feeling a little down, I would always try to remember the ingredients from memory (since my grandmother never wrote the recipe down, she thinks that food should be made from the soul, not from instructions, but that is a controversial argument) to make my grandmother's signature cookie. 

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As I am telling you this, I am baking her signature cookies all from memory. Every time I bake them, I feel as if my grandma is next to me, accompanying me, feeling so joyful that I still remember how to bake them. 

You all might be asking what happened on the day when grandma was teaching me how to make her famous cookies. You might be still wondering if I was feeling all gloomy and bored that day.

All I can say is this: If you eat her cookies, you'll forget that you were ever made, or sad. You would forget that you yelled at someone, or was feeling melancholy. There is something special in that recipe that makes all these feelings go away.

But before I tell you the secret ingredient, you must remember to not tell anyone. Do you promise? Do you cross your heart and hope to die? Well, fine, I'll tell you the ingredient from memory.

Passion and Love. 

That's all it takes for anything in this world to turn out good. It just takes a little bit of passion and love. 

~The End~